72 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
eminently seed lovers, and rarely eat anything else, except a few 
insects during the season of reproduction. The only mischief so 
far imputed to them is the eating of the seeds of useful plants, such 
as lettuce and other vegetables on seed farms. Investigation has 
failed, however, to find a case where the damage was considerable. 
The writer visited some of the largest seed farms in California and 
ascertained that while birds, especially goldfinches, ate some of the 
ripening seeds, the damage had never been serious enough to warrant 
any protective measures. The writer observed goldfinches feeding 
on lettuce seed, but the birds were few, and all they could eat would 
have no appreciable effect on the quantity of seed harvested. 
One marked peculiarity of the goldfinches is their bibulous habits. 
They seem always in need of water, perhaps owing to the habit of 
eating dry seeds. The writer has seen more goldfinches drinking in 
one day than he has seen of all other species in his whole life. 
Only 84 stomachs of the willow goldfinch were available for exami- 
nation, but such is the uniformity of the food that a larger number 
would probably not give a very different result. No stomachs 
were taken in December, but all the other months were represented. 
The food for those months amounts to 5 percent of animal matter 
to 95 of vegetable. All the animal food was found in 10 stomachs, 
9 being taken in March, April, and May, and 1, containing 2 larve, 
in September. Practically all the vegetable matter is seeds. 
Animal food.—The animal food was composed entirely of 3 orders 
of insects: Bugs (Hemiptera), flies (Diptera), and caterpillars 
(Lepidoptera). Bugs were contained in 5 stomachs and were all 
plant lice (Aphidide). They aggregated a little less than 2 percent. 
Flies were found in 1 stomach taken in April. They were in the shape 
of larvee or maggots and amounted to less than one-half of 1 per- 
cent. Caterpillars were contained in 6 stomachs and aggregated 
less than 3 percent. Beetles, wasps, ants, and grasshoppers, which 
so often constitute the bulk of the animal food of birds, are entirely 
wanting in the stomachs of the willow goldfinch, as also are spiders. 
Vegetable food.—Vegetable matter appeared in every one of the 
84 stomachs, and 73 of them held no other food. Hulls of oats were 
found in 1 stomach taken in May. It amounted to 65 percent of 
the contents of that stomach, and was the only thing of economic 
value found in any one of the 84 stomachs. It amounted to less than 
one-half of 1 percent of the year’s food. Seeds of various weeds come 
to over 91 percent of the diet, and are found in every stomach in every 
month. For seven months weed seed constituted the entire food. 
The following plants were identified: Centaurea or bur thistle in 18 
stomachs, alfilaria or filaree in 13, sunflower in 12, groundsel in 4, 
mouse-car, rust weed, and tarweed in 2 each. As the goldfinch takes 
a good deal of gravel into its stomach, many of the seeds are ground 
